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Forced Play
The Joes deal with the twin threat of the Lower Darklonian Separatist Front and the Domestic Operations Agency! Issue summary A Tiger Force squad consisting of Duke, Ripcord, Dusty, Lifeline and Recondo arrives on the Brooklyn waterfront where police and Domestic Operations Agency agents have a group of Lower Darklonian Separatist Front terrorists under siege in a warehouse but shooting has broken out. The media are covering the story from the skies. Duke confronts the lead DOA agent, Special Agent Skip Bentsen-Barr, and accuses him of endangering civilians by starting a fight as the terrorists have a stockpile of explosives. In anger Duke hits Bentsen-Barr. Inside the warehouse four LDSF terrorists pla a breakout, each carrying a knapsack full of explosives. Horst climbs to the roof on a kamikaze mission, proudly boasting how he will be a martyr to the cause, with songs sung about him and squares named after him- "I'll be imortal!" He jumps onto two DOA vehicles and detonates the explosives, creating a distracting to allow three other terrorists - Jerzy, Milos and Marta - to escape on motorcycles. But they have already forgotten Horst's name! The Tiger Force Joes pursue the terrorists and soon capture Milos, but Marta and Jerzy escape into the subway system. Bentsen-Barr arrives to collect him and announces two more have been captured at the warehouse, but tensions between him and Duke remain with the latter accusing him of trying to shift blame for explosives being on the street. Meanwhile Alpine, Lightfoot and Jinx are trailing the courier who delivered the explosives as he moves through Manhattan. He eventually enters the Darklonian Embassy. At the DOA headquarters Bentsen-Barr confirms the man is Nobel Peetman, the cultural attaché of the embassy and as such has diplomatic immunity. The Joes and Bentsen-Barr deduce that Darklon is making the US do his work for them since by supplying the separatists in the US and encouraging them to attack US targets it means the US government will have to deal with them. Bentsen-Barr explains that his confidential sources have informed him there will be an attack on the Museum of Natural History. Duke deduces the tip-off came from the Darklonian Embassy and hey are all pawns. Later Peetman leaves the embassy with an attache case handcuffed to his wrist and Lightfoot and Jinx deduce it contains explosives. They follow him to a town house next to St Dymphna's Elementary School. Radioing in they learn that the DOA have received a tip about the town house and are staking it out. Bentsen-Barr is reluctant to trample on Peetman's immunity so the plan is to follow the terrorists to the museum and catch them with the explosives. Later Marta and two other terrorists set off in a jeep, leaving Jerzy at the town house to watch Peetman. They suddenly spot Bentsen-Barr's car and open fir, so the special agent calls in the Joes. The jeep reaches the museum and the terrorists start throwing time bombs everywhere. The Joes arrive and Duke orders Recondo to guard the door with the Tiger Cat while the rest of Tiger Force enters in the Tiger Sting and Tiger Paw. Lifeline and Dusty collect all the explosives and drive at high speed to Central Park where they drop the bombs in the lake. Meanwhile Duke and Ripcord chase the LDSF terrorists out of the building where the jeep collides with the Tiger Cat. A WDUM television van arrives and starts shooting the arrest with the reporter stating that "a multi-agency team under the command of Special Agent Bentsen-Barr captures..." which prompts Duke to confront the special agent about putting lives at risk for the sake of favourable personal publicity. He accuses Bentsen-Barr of making a deal with Peetman. At the town house Lightfoot, Jinx and Alpine continue watching. Inside Jerzy watches the news report of the other terrorists' arrest and hears that it was down to "a tip from an unidentified informant". He immediately realises Peetman was the only other person who knew and confronts him, but Peetman shoots him dead, saying he has already made a deal. Outside Lightfoot wonders why Peetman took explosives in his case if the plan was to get the terrorists captured at the museum, and deduces the museum wasn't the real target - the next door school is. The three Joes storm inside and overpower Peetman but the timer on the explosives can't be disarmed, though there is more than an hour until detonation. Alpine is furious that Peetman was going to murder children and couldn't be touched, then has an idea. At the DOA headquarters Bentsen-Barr tells the Tiger Force Joes they failed by not opening fire sooner, and Duke retorts that the special agent just doesn't like loose ends. Suddenly Alipne, Lightfoot and Jinx arrive with Peetman. They explain that the deal was for Bentsen-Barr to get the credit for arresting the entire LDSF, removing a problem for Darklon, but Peetman was planning to also blow up the school to really destroy the LDSF's reputation. He points out there are sixty seconds left on the timer and puts it in Peetman's attaché case then jams the lock. Jinx jams the door shut and everyone realises they are trapped in the room with a bomb chained to Peetman's risk. Alpine suggests Dusty moves away from the window as "the DOA just might want to throw something out there real soon!" Featured Characters Featured Vehicles & Equipment Errors * The Lower Darklonian Separatist Front banner seen in the warehouse has the acronym LSDF not LDSF. Items of note * First appearance: Tiger Force, Tiger Sting, Tiger Paw, Tiger Cat. *In the United Kingdom the story was reprinted in the G.I. Joe Annual 1992. Footnotes Category:Marvel Comics issues